'Will stop making films if Lapid can prove any event of Kashmir Files false'

Mumbai: The Kashmir Files director Vivek Agnihotri said he will quit filmmaking if intellectuals, including Israeli filmmaker Nadav Lapid, can prove that events depicted in his film are false.

A day after Lapid, who served as the chairperson of IFFI's international jury, termed the film 'vulgar and propaganda', Agnihotri challenged his detractors, saying he will 'keep fighting'.

"I challenge the world's intellectuals and 'urban Naxals' as well as the great filmmaker who came from Israel if they can prove that any shot, dialogue or event of 'The Kashmir Files' is not absolute truth, I'll stop making films. I'm not someone who will back down. Issue as many fatwas as you want, but I'll keep fighting," the Indian filmmaker said in a video statement shared on his official 'Twitter' page.

Comments made by Lapid, viewed as an anti-establishment voice, came at the closing ceremony of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa on November 28.

Recently, Agnihotri said in a cryptic social media post that 'truth is the most dangerous thing' as it can make people lie. In his video, posted in the evening, he said being attacked by 'gangs' that want to divide India was not a new phenomenon for him.

"Such things are often said by terrorist organisations, urban Naxals and the 'tukde-tukde' gang, who want to divide the country. What's surprising is how an event, organised by the government of India, was used to support the narrative of terrorists who want Kashmir's separation from India and how many Indians living in India used it against the country?" asked Agnihotri.

The director, who won the National Film Award for 'best screenplay - dialogues' for 2019's 'The Tashkent Files', said 700 people were interviewed as part of the research for 'The Kashmir Files'.

"Were these 700 people, whose families were butchered and gang-raped, spouting propaganda and vulgarities? The place that used to be a Hindu land (Hindu majority), no Hindus live there. Even today, Hindus are marked for murder and killed right in front of your eyes. Yasin Malik, who confessed to his crimes, is rotting in jail today. Is this propaganda or a vulgar thing?" he said.